58 hours of inspiration

“No, I don’t want a map. Thank you”, I said to the girl behind the counter of the hotel reception. I planned on getting lost – a lot. All I need for that is my non existing sense of orientation, curiousness and my camera. And in fact they lead me in the very wrong direction where I found a whole lot of… nothing. But I figured, maybe I just need to walk a tiny bit longer, maybe there’s a wonderful view and a romantic little café just around this corner. Or that one. Or that one over there… There wasn’t. After spinning around myself for about 200-300 times, I found a different trail that lead me right to some beautiful narrow streets full of life, fashion, music and food – The Lanes. Girls in short tops and dangerously high heels looked at men with hats and funny shaped beards through oversized sunglasses. They dressed so provocatively confident – it was wonderful. After a coffee and a cookie in one of those little cafés with funny names and colorful wallpaper I followed the moving crowd and it lead me to some more serious shops on slightly bigger streets right down to the wonderful seafront of Brighton…

The reason why I came to Brighton was a Travel Blogging Conference I wanted to attend. My hopes were high. I expected to learn some more about the lifestyle I’m approaching, get some advice on how to go on from here and meet some people that share my passion for travel and writing… And I did. The conference was much more, much better than I expected. Amongst others I attended an inspiring but down to earth workshop about going freelance by Frankie Thompson, a workshop by Julie Falconer about social media that had me walking out of Room 2 with a long list of advice and things to do next and a conversation with Ruth Haffenden that showed me lots of ways to get my stories out there. But that’s not all of it. Good food, good drinks, great people and all of their stories made the trip to Brighton absolutely worthwhile.

 

 The mood of the last day of Traverse13

 

After 58 wonderful hours I left Brighton with a little bit of weariness (thanks to the traverse afterparty), great pictures, new friends and a whole lot of inspiration.